


Mirage

by DarkJediQueen



Series: A Universe of Meetings [33]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 19:21:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18644488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: It had to be a mirage, no one should be that beautiful covered in dirt and sweat.





	Mirage

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Any  
>  **Spoilers** : General Series Spoilers  
>  **Notes** : This is a One-Shot, no more will be written in the world.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly
> 
> Based off of this image

The lake was huge, and Aaron still wasn't sure it wasn't a mirage of some kind. He had been lost in the desert for a while now. He had found a rock outcropping to sleep under, and it had got cold, but Aaron had stayed warm enough to not freeze too much. The UnSub was dead some miles back, but the team had no way of tracking Aaron in the desert as his phone had been dropped by the UnSub after the UnSub had rammed Aaron's car and driven him off the road. Aaron had been alone moving from a dump site to the MEs office to go over a few things. He had not expected the UnSub to seek them out. It wasn't in their profile, so something had to have changed. The UnSub had then driven Aaron out into the desert to enact his ritual only he had damaged his car and halfway to his site it had died. Aaron had used that to try and escape and had ended up killing the UnSub instead.

Aaron had been lost with no way of figuring out where he was other than he knew that a city was to the east. The rising sun had helped him figure out the east. Now Aaron was just following that. We went up a dune and stopped when he saw the vast lake that was in the middle of the desert. That had to be a mirage. Still, Aaron started to stumble toward it. Water would be good as there had only been a single bottle of water in the UnSub's car that had been sealed and Aaron didn't trust that the others didn't have a drug in them of some kind. Aaron had finished that off after the night.

Stumbling down the dune, Aaron felt his feet stop following what his brain wanted, and he rolled down the slope, kicking up sand and dust everywhere. Aaron closed his eyes and his mouth and tried not to breathe at all. He was sore when he landed at the bottom and only rolled enough to where his face wasn't in the dirt. He felt hands on him a minute later, and he was being turned to where he was on his side. Aaron opened his eyes to see a sweaty and sand covered man right there looking down at him. He was beautiful, more beautiful than someone who was covered in sweat and sand should be. Aaron opened his lips to beg for water, but instead, everything went black.

* * *

Aaron opened his eyes and felt air blasting over him, cool air that felt good. He also realized that it was all over all of him. He was naked. He didn't like that he was naked.

"No, look. I have no clue who he is. He stripped naked, and I am not hunting through the miles of desert to find his identification."

Aaron didn't remember stripping, but then flashes came back of getting rid of his suit coat so that he wasn't too warm and it was what had his credentials and all forms of ID. He didn't put his wallet in his back pocket to help with lines in the fabric.

"Well, he's asleep, dehydration. I got some electrolyte water into him, and he's just sleeping now. He's a little burned in some places, but I cleaned him up and put some cream on him. I have a week of vacation from work, and I don't relish watching over a strange man. The storm has died down, and a helicopter can be sent to pick him up if you are afraid of the killer hiding in the desert. I'm shocked you aren't worried that this man is that man. He could wake up and kill me for all I know."

Aaron snorted. He rolled over, and the bed creaked. He saw that the man was standing in a pair of swimming trunks in the middle of a room filled with glass. It was a strange little house.

"My name is Aaron Hotchner," Aaron said his voice croaking from heat and dehydration.

"Oh, good. Look I've found your missing federal agent." There was a pause. "Yeah, I thought that it might get your asses out here quicker." The man hung up the phone and set it down on the counter beside him. He looked at Aaron with a strange look on his face. He frowned and grabbed something from beside him, Aaron saw it was a sheet. Aaron was glad of it when it fell over his body. "You'll be fine. You were more than a little out of it to be stupid enough to strip naked so the sun can burn you. You have severe burns all over most of your body, a few have blistered. You also kept calling me an angel, so I started to call you Anakin in my head."

"Because he called Padme an angel from the moons of Iago." Aaron knew that reference. The man smiled at him, and he still looked like an angel to Aaron. Aaron reached out a hand to touch his face. The palm of his hand was unburned, so he pressed it to the man's cheek. The younger man gave him a fond look. "What's your name?"

"Spencer. Spencer Reid."

"Not Reid. Spencer Reid?" Aaron knew that he was indeed still a little loopy because that was not as funny as his brain was finding it. Spencer still gave him a fond smile and a little laugh. "That sounded better in my head."

"Ah, it's kind of adorable. Though you being naked in bed does make me feel a little overdressed so don't worry about that. I was going for a swim when I heard you fall down the dune."

"You have a pretty house and you can get naked with me at any point."

"How about we visit that when your brain is normal? It's not a no, it's a no for now."

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I can be found on MeWe (a FB replacement that's better) [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot. My writing page for the moment is kind of dead in the water on a FB front as links are being banned for content.


End file.
